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User blog:Blankslate/The Final Blood War, Why I hate it...and why I kinda like it
Hey ya'll. How you bros and hoes doin? :3 Okay, so...yeah, some of you guys may or may not have seen this coming. If any of you have read Aha's blogs, you've all probably got the idea in your heads that I despise this new Blood War arc. And I haven't just been like this towards you guys, I've said it on several forums pages, heck, even some of my facebook stuff. I generally don't like this arc, but, i'm going to level with you guys. I admit that i've been too skeptical and critical of it, pointing out small things that shouldn't normally matter. But I'll tell you guys why I don't like it, and it may not be for the reason ya'll think it is. Bleach is ending, possibly for good. This depresses me each time I think about it. Now, I may not have grown up with Bleach like I did with DBZ or Thundercats, or Silverhawks, or Captain Planet, or Ed, Edd, n' Eddy, or Hunchback of Notre Dame, or The Secret of NIMH, or Land Before Time, or An American Tail, or DREDD (the comics, not the shitty 1995 movie with Stallone), or Batman and Robin (yes when I was a kid, I actually enjoyed that shit), or any of the Don Bluth movies- Sorry, sorry, that was my Cinemophile side coming out. But back to the main topic, I haven't been a childhood fan of Bleach, in fact, I only started getting into it two years ago. But as soon as I started reading it, and then started watching the TV show, I was hooked. So typically, most would assume that I am very upset that Bleach is ending, and I am indeed upset. This is such a cool universe to me, even if it is confusing as hell most of the time. And if it's going to end for real, I really want the series to go out in a way that would leave us all satisfied. Dunno about ya'll, but at this rate in the arc, my feelings for it are honestly jumbled. I mean, when it first came out, I was like "F*** yeah! Quincy's are the baddies! Now it's a Party!!! Why I hate the arc (Note, these aren't listed in a "top ten" manner. I'm just doing the sections based on which one I've thought out more. No reason is better or worse than the other.) Reason Number One: The Stern Ritter "Is that a....Luchador?" ''-my friend's reaction after seeing the luchador Quincy's debut. Okay, if you're going to be doing a final arc for a popular series, you wanna make sure who ever the main baddies are, they are awesome. We want them to be intimidating, badass, powerful, and truly a force that we can actually respect for destroying our favorite good guys and their armies. With the Vandenreich and the Stern Ritter, I barely feel any of these. Sure, they have the power part down. Hell, 16 of them (supposidly, if Kubo will make up his mind on how many he wants), have brought Soul Society to it's knees alone....you know, OFFSCREEN. Seriously, what are they doing that's completely annihilating thousands upon thousands of Soul Reapers? Are the Captains just sitting around sipping tea and laughing? Ugh, anyways. But what about intimidating? Badass? And can we truly respect them??? ....No...freaking...just...no. Are you serious? "NaNaNa Najahkoop?" "Buzzbee?" "Lyod and Ryod Lloyd?" (try saying that ten times fast). Is Kubo just composing these names out of a jar full of letters? Or were the parents of these freaks just mentally disabled? I mean, good lord, give the bad guys names that don't sound like villains from a 1980's cartoon show! Arrancars and Hollows had weird names because...well look at them! They're supposed to be freaks mostly! Okay, name rant is over, moving on. Seriously, the Stern Ritter is a complete, jumbled up mess. Good lord, you ''know ''you haven't put enough thought into the structure of an antagonist organization when not even the guys on Bleach Wiki can tell a member apart from another. Now I know that Bleach has a history of giving it's bad guys some pretty weird names and mannerisms, especially in the Arrancar and Hollow parts. But as I said above, they are meant to look and be like freaks, so are Hollows. Quincy's are Human, right? So how does this explain how they all look like they came out of a circus? And then there are their powers. Some of these are kinda believable, and even (dare I say it) pretty darn interesting. Fear manipulation? Holy crap, that's epic! Becoming more powerful everytime you kill something? Freaking badass! I can actually tolerate moves like that because they mostly make sense (well, they could, if Kubo would explain how they can do those things.)! But others are just absolutely absurd. The biggest example of this is the gorilla guy that Kenny cleaved in half. Um, how the hell does this work? He's a Quincy, human's that manipulate spiritual energy into weapons, so how on earth can he transform into a freaking ape?! They don't even explain it, he just out right turns into an ape and starts roaring! If he could just roar really loud, that would be okay with me. Could be something with manipulating Reishi to improve your vocal cords or something, but turning into an ape??? And then there are just others. Able to transform into your opponent? How? Do you copy all of their moves when you do this? Because god willing you can't use any of your other powers. Or are you just copying their looks because you realize that you look like an idiot without this power? (more like a Tien ripoff). Copying your opponent's appearance AND their memories? Good god, I hope he doesn't do that to me and tries to remember that time in Vegas where I unintentionally ran over a Korean family.... I could go on, but I don't want to make this blog too too long :p And what's worse, most of them won't even use their natural Quincy powers. They're too reliant on that Bankai ensnaring device of theirs. Seriously, they're like "Hurp Derp, I'm gonna steel dat there Bankai tingy of yours!' And then for some reason, when they see that they can't steal said Bankai, they fall into despair faster than Ichigo does. Seriously? The worst part about the Stern Ritter is, well, the ''Stern Ritter. I have no connection to any of these freaks. None of them are likeable to me (As Nodt and Driscoll Berci were on the way to becoming liked by me, maybe even my favorite ones, but then of course, they were killed in a fire), and I feel no reason to have emotion put towards them, not even anger towards their actions. It feels like we're being told that we have to hate the Stern Ritter. Well, I do hate them. Not because they're bad and attacking SS, killing thousands, but just becase they're so damn stupid and poorly thought out. Kubo is even going as far as to kill the most interesting ones without even giving us a little of their backstories or more on them in general. Hell, As Nodt is technically the first bad guy in Bleach to legitimately kill ''an important good guy. This dude should be hailed as a legend for such a feat! But is he going to? Nope, Kubo killed him and another Quincy that we thought was going to have a big role later on. Some of them that actually look remotely interesting '''Final Word: '''These guys are a joke. This is the final arc of Bleach, we want our main villains to be awesome. But when you give them names that sound like they're from a kids TV show, and make them look like a bunch of clowns, don't give them all proper development, and kill off the ones that you make seem would be important later on in the series, it kinda takes away interest and tension, from my point of standing. I want to respect and actually like these bad guys. I want to be able to connect with them in some manner, and at some points, be like "Hell yes! Kick that Soul Reaper's ass! Show em' who's boss! GO HUMANITY!!!!!!" But I don't. ------- '''Reason Number 2: The Logic Used by Characters' "Oh my god...they didn't just do that..." ''-my first words after reading chapter 496 Gonna try something new with the pictures, bear with ma. Alright, I'll get one thing straight here. I know earlier I said that this wasn't a top ten list, but if it was, this would be number one. Hoo boy, here we go. Alright so we obviously know that the biggest point in this reason is the four Captains that ate one too many bowls of stupid for breakfast. However, there is one gap in logic I found early in the beginning of this arc that just made me go "Huh?" That is Ichigo's first encounter with Ivan (or, better known as "Ebern" Seriously, make up your damn mind on what these guys are called!) Okay so, upon reading this part I was like "Oh...okay~? I'm not totally sure what the point in this was, but, maybe it'll pay off in the future?" But when I think about it now, i'm not sure about you guys, I can't help but just scratch my head. Ichigo had absolutely no reason to go Bankai in the face of this guy. He didn't even get hurt, hell when he wasn't in Soul Reaper form, he freaking cracked this dude across the jaw and actually ''hurt ''him. What's the point in going Bankai when you're enemy has done absolutely nothing to you except break into your house and ask you questions? For real, they hardly even fight and just because his enemy taunts him into it a few times, he actually activates Bankai? Um, I know that Ichigo ain't the smartest rock in the field- no no wait, that's a bad comparison. He isn't the sharpest tool in the shed- no no *sigh* that one's been used too many times... Alright alright, he isn't that smart, I get that, but...he isn't this dumb either! Did you see how he faired against Kugo in Shikai during the last arc? Dude! That was awesome! That's the kind of fighting that I want to see! Using Bankai only when you know when you have to and you have no other choice! Since when does Ichigo fall for stuff like this??? I would tolerate this part if Ivan actually presented a true challenge to Ichigo, proving to be strong enough to where Bankai would be the only option, and THEN trying to steal it. Just firing a bunch of lasers from a...thing shouldn't be enough to force Ichigo into his strongest state. Ichigo didn't even get a chance to attack and he already- gah. I digress, this part was stupid. Onto the main show!!! What. The. Fuck. Okay okay, you guys knew that this was coming, so just strap in and get ready, cause' I got some shit to say. Alright so, Kubo opted for the Soul Reapers to get information that the Vandenreich (at the time of their reveal to the Captains, they're just "a bunch of Quincy" God you could just FEEL the shock radiating off of everyone's face) are capable of doing something to Bankai, but not exactly what. Let us take a moment of silence for Chojiro, who risked his life to get us at least ''this ''much information. You guys don't care about him either, right? Yeah he's useless. Cool Bankai though. So...you would think that, naturally, when you realize your enemy could do something bad to your most powerful weapon, you wouldn't use it first thing, right? You'd try to fight it out with what you had, and only use the most powerful of your arsenal when you knew that you had no choice right? You'd wait until you hear what your scientists say about the enemy, right? Not according to these pricks. ----^ So a few minutes into the main battle, Byakuya comes and cuts As Nodt. Let me say that again, he ''hurts ''As Nodt, and makes the Luchador Quincy freak out. He even has a badass line "Let's pop these bitchez." No no, he actually said something along the lines of "Let's crush them." It's different from each website you read it on. So he established the fact that a Captain could actually damage a Stern Ritter with Shikai, and ''didn't need Bankai to do anything at this rate. ''So at 495, I was like, "Hell yeah! Totally epic fighting here, with the main possibility of the baddies winning! Right?!" WRONG! So instead of continuing the fight, and to make the plot go further to...whatever he has planned, Kubo apparently hired the Inception crew to go into Byakuya's dream and plant the idea in his head that using Bankai first thing is actually a good idea. Taking the bait like the tool he is, Byakuya reasons with Renji that this is a foe they can't beat without Bankai. How-how do you know that? Did you read the script? I think I saw it in your office, the script I mean, did you read it before this? Seriously, how ''does ''he know that? They've barely done anything to each other. Sure, the Stern Ritter are slaughtering plenty of cannon fodder Soul Reapers, but you've clearly shown that you can actually hurt these Stern Ritter bros. And you're also a master at Kidou, good at Hakuda and Shunpo, what is with your sudden desire to use Bankai? Oh yeah, he was incepted. He has the idea in his head that if he let's his enemy do whatever it is to his Bankai, then he can let his Vice Captain, Renji help him try to undo it. Lemme say that again, he actually thinks that ''Renji can actually do anything against this guy and his stupid device. Let's stop and think, just how big of a help has Renji been in the past? Sure he's beat a few weak guys, but he usually spams his Bankai and gets his ass whooped nearly each time he uses it. "Oh but did you see his fight with Jackie? These guys have trained to be hardcore now!! They're so much stronger than before!!" DUDE, Jackie was a HUMAN. Do you really think that him beating a human without much effort is really that big of a deal??? Training to beat Aizen my ass, poser. I digress, this logic used by Byakuya is absolutely absurd, no matter how you word it. They don't even know exactly what the freaking device does and they're already inclined to use it just to see??? Why can't you let that science, murderous former criminal guy finish his analysis before you do anything? Why do something that's going to help the enemy in the end no matter what??? For an enemy that they can't beat without Bankai, and slaughtering thousands of Soul Reapers, Byakuya and the others sure are underestimating the Stern Ritter... See, this is what I really don't like about this arc. Bankai is being treated like a toy just because the enemy could steal them. Didn't Byakuya say that Bankai was amoung the most sacred of their traditions? You wouldn't use it unless you knew you had to. But apparently, Cobb and the gang over-did it and decided to incept the dog bro (seriously, he's so useless I barely remember his name) and Toshiro, whom I thought would be smarter than this, honestly. They all have the exact same idea as Byakuya, and use this moment of stupidity so show off their badassery!!!! But the biggest problem with this part, is one of my favorite anime females, Soifon. Her character has been completely destroyed by this part of the arc. One chapter was all it took to completely stomp her morals and beliefs into the ground like a toy. "If I kill you before you have the chance to seal my Bankai, then there won't be any need to worry about such things!" At that point, I was like "Oh, so she's going to just fight like normal, right? Use the Shikai and Shunko and all of that stuff?" Nope, she actually activates her Bankai, the weapon that she despises and hates using, f''irst thing in order to defeat her opponent. ... ... FfffffffUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you serious? Are you entirely serious? This is like taking Samwise Gamgee from the Jackson LOTR movies, and switching him with the Bakshi animated movie one. Her personality and morals just completely turn around for the sake of having another Bankai get stolen-I MEAN sealed. Why? What's the point? She hasn't laid a finger on her foe, and he hasn't done so to her either, and she's already inclined to use her Bankai, possibly the most explosive thing in Bleach, first thing just for the sake of killing her opponent quickly??? That's stupid! I don't care who you are and what you say! She shouldn't have done that! If her opponent left her no other choice, STILL, she should have hesitated. Did you guys notice that she hesitated using it against Barragarn, both times? Why is she all of a sudden so willing to use the thing that she hates first thing?? Also, I need to point out how counter-productive her Bankai would be in a battle that's taking place in Soul Society. Seriously, did you guys see the explosion that thing produced? That nearly engulfed all of the Fake Town! Wouldn't using that in Soul Society, against an opponent that is ''only a few feet away from you, do more harm than good?? Soifon's smarter than that. She's arrogant, sure, and yeah, she's a bit of a bitch sometimes, but she's smarter than this. But, for the sake of showing off that "ooh, so amazing Bankai ensnaring device!" Kubo defeats the original character that she had, turns her into an idiot along with the others, has her Bankai get stolen, and, well, we get the Stern Ritter acquiring the edge against SS for good. God...darn it Kubo!!!! Some of you may say "Oh, maybe she lost faith in her Shikai." Dude, think about it. She hates using her Bankai, and the first time she used it, nothing useful happened, it was undone. And the second time she used it, all it did was take out the target's left eye. Do you really think she would switch faith from her preferred fighting weapon to her least favorite, when the latter failed her twice? Final Word: This chapter pissed EVERYBODY off. Seriously, i've seen forums of people just shouting out how dumb and idiotic it made our Captains. My friends who also watched and read Bleach just had their jaws drop. These guys are better than this, and I expected more. I wanted to see the different powers that these four awesome looking Stern Ritter could do, but nope, gotta show off that little medallion of theirs. Soifon, one of the most epic females in this series, who hates using her Bankai, had her character completely destroyed within a couple of pages. This was just shameful of Kubo, and he apparently saw this and made it worse when Shinji and Mayuri actually called these four idiots. It's going to take alot to undo this part for me, personally. *sigh* at least Byakuya got his just desserts for such stupidity... Reason Number 3: The Bankai Ensnaring Device "How can Kubo not mess this up?" ''-basically what Mangetsu said earlier in a short manner. ''O''kay so, now I think I can get back to what i've been meaning to do. Have you guys ever noticed that when you try to publish an edit on something, a message about spam filter pops up and says something's wrong to where it can't post? Yeah well, that happened with this blog...somehow. Damn thing wouldn't even tell me what the problem was, and when I tried to report the issue to the spam filter wiki guys or whatever it's called, it said I wasn't authorized to ask a question or some bullshit like that. I dunno, but I freaking love technology <,< Alright since two hours of thought and typing went to waste last night with this, and since I have Black 2 and am now feeling more inclined to pay attention to it rather than you losers, i'm going to keep it rather brief. And I'm also watching a full walkthrough of Heavy Rain, because I don't want to actually play the game, because i'm afraid i'll screw up and it isn't really my play style, but it has an amazing story and- aw fuck it. My first point was that the Bankai Ensnaring Device was introduced too early in the story. It is literally the first thing thrown in our faces with Ichigo and his friends. Okay so maybe that's a bit too much. He kills some hollows and saves two kids first, and THEN Kubo throws the biggest element of the arc at us. Isn't that kind of weird to you guys? I mean, I think it would be much better for the story if the scene with Chojiro was the only hint of something that could tamper with Bankai. Here, we'd just be all "Ooh, what could this possibly be?" Of course, even before it was revealed, we were already assuming what it could do. Steal the Bankai, and let the Quincy user actually re-use the Bankai against it's owner. I love how we were supposed to be surprised when it actually happened, but we weren't lol. The second thing about it that I mentioned was how it supposidly functions. Now, before I go any further, I want to clarify that this is based solely on Yama-ji's assumption, and I acknowledge that it could be wrong, but still, just his logic kinda set me off. So...yeah. Mastering Bankai is what gets it stolen....and not mastering it doesn't... I don't get it. You mean to tell me that, as much as he's used it, Ichigo hasn't mastered Bankai yet? I mean, he used it for all of his fights after the first time he used it against Byakuya, had it on for nearly three months, fleshed out all of it's power (including it's final move), became the most powerful being in the series at one point BECAUSE he had used Bankai so much....and he still hasn't mastered it? You also mean to tell me that, as SPARINGLY as they've used it, the other Captains have mastered Bankai? I mean, think about it, Byakuya hasn't used his Bankai much, really. But I guess he has mastered it, dunno. Toshiro hasn't mastered his yet, at least I don't think he has. The dog...I don't really care about. But Soifon, Soifon definately hasn't mastered hers. Hell, what could she possibly practice that thing on, the ocean??? And she hates using it, I'm pretty sure that she would avoid practicing with it after the first time... *sighs* It's getting harder to stomach any more of this shit. Is it me, or is Soifon being treated like a joke in this arc? Does anybody also find it weird that Yamamoto somehow knew just exactly how the device worked, when he had never seen it in action, nor heard about it until like....five minutes ago? o.- '''Final Word: '......what? Oh! Right. Sorry, I'm ah...too busy talking to everyone in my hometown on Black 2. Why do I do that? None of the NPC's have anything interesting or unique to say. They say the same shit in every title-what was I talking about? Oh right. In my opinion, the part with Ivan and Ichigo should have been replaced or done something else with. I also feel an inconsistant explanation for how Yama's theory on the device worked...doesn't make much, if any sense. Alright, there's my logic for this part. It would have been longer, but blame the damn spam filter of mine, apparently. Now, shut up. I have an epic fusion of Zekrom and Kyurem to work my way towards. Jk you guys rock <3 Reason Number 4: I'm gonna slit ma wrists-the Royd Lyold ordeal "Iiiiiit's a small world aaaafter all. Iiiiiiit's a small world aaaafter all...." ''me restraining my anger over this part. My Snivy rooooocks. First gym leader has been taken down with just him. I nicknamed him Creig. Seriously, how bad would it be to lose against a Snivy named Creig? Alright, now let's talk about the most bullshit hack in history. Worse than one that some asshole on Battlefield 3 used on everyone on the match one time. He could. not. die....!!! This guy, this guy's reveal...pissed me off so bad, so bad that I honestly just stopped reading the chapter, and just decided that Bleach, for me, ended at Lost Agent. It was worse than the time Aizen pretty much defeated the purpose of Soifon being an assassin to begin with. What is with Kubo and these last minute, half-assed, and rushed decisions that totally throw off the tension and drama? And why do they make no sense at all? Alright alright...woosa....woosa...Done. Let's get started. Okay so-FUCK, sorry. This part just really agitates me. So after we see that JuhaBach just wqhooped, let's say that again ''wqhooped, Kenpachi's ass, Yama-Ji comes in, says that he's gonna wqhoop Juha Bach's ass. Juha's all "no ima wqhoop yo' ass" and it pretty much goes back and forth like that. But THEN, we get, in my opinion, possibly the most gripping fight in Bleach manga. Seriously, I was loving ''how the fight between Juha and Yama was going. I was hooked, I wanted to see more of this turn out. Sure, Yamamoto's "south" ability completely goes against pretty much everything that Bleach is about (you know, when you "kill" something with a Zanny it doesn't stay there, idiot), but still, it was epic! And then Yama...like, just cuts him er something with a "north" ability? But all it was was just a cut and, aw forget it. In any case, Juha was cut right then and there. Didn't even give the poor bastard the chance to be completely severed in two, he's still got part of him lingering in there! But then...he says something that just made me go "Oh shit, Kubo don't go there please..." Juha Bach says: "Forgive me...Juha Bach-sama..." ...Did he just apologize to himself? Dude, how highly thinking of you... And here, I knew shit was going to go down. And not the good kinda shit, the epic kind. No this is the kind that you- ooooooh, I almost went into bad spots there o.o; So...yeah, I was thinking that Seishima (I REFUSE to call him by that stupid sounding name that Juha called him) had just switched places with him at the last minute (which, still, would have been dumb as hell). But NO, something else happens entirely. You guys remember Lyold lyold or whatever? Yeah, turns out he had a bro who could do the same thing, but with memories. I don't give a crap what the guys on Bleach wiki say, when you look at the manga and use some common knowledge, Ryod could do the same thing as Lyold, but with memories. Kubo realized that, as soon as he did it, he couldn't kill the main baddie this early in the story, so, like with most things in Bleach, he has to undo what he did earlier with something crammed with bullshit. Think about it like this, Kenpachi wqhooped Lyold's ass, even when he was just mimicking Kenny. So, Bleach wiki is acting as if Ryod managed to beat Kenny on his own, with his ''original ''power and not Juha's power. This makes absolutely no sense. If Ryod does not copy their powers, and just uses his own, inborn strength...how does he have Juha Bach's sword? Better yet, how does Ryod and Juha have ''the exact same weapon? Also, add to that, if Ryod was truly that much power, wouldn't Juha Bach have killed him along time ago? You know...challenge to the rule and all? Ho God, why am I even reviewing this arc still? Am I going insane? Anybody wanna milk my cat? The memory part was just outright insulting. We actually get to see some humanity in a main villain, feel for him, and then it's all just ripped away from us with this BS. Think about it, have we seen any villain that gave a shit about their subordinates in the past during Bleach? There may be one, I dunno, but I haven't seen one personally. This final arc is a chance to do something different, give us a villain that can change overtime, show some emotion besides snobby, arrogant, pure evil, uncaring bastards that we've been seeing. Stop making them gods to where they're prepared for any situation and know how each scenario is going to play out no matter what. Show us something new Kubo! Change your system! Ditch the whole "ain't broke, don't fix it." schmuck, because trust me, your system IS broken. And then the next part comes out. Juha twists Yama's Bankai device logic around (as Mang put it, Kubo couldn't decide what to do with it), and said that only he was capable of stealing it due to it's power and him being so powerful. What the hell? If Royd has copied your appearance, memories, and powers (which he did) that means he's the same level of power as you! What could possibly stop him from stealing the Bankai if he has the same level of power as you? Did he read the script? Final Word: '''Wow, so much BS over a simple move that Kubo could have fixed easily. But instead, he gives us yet another hack/conspiracy/villain that knows everything about everything to know about everything stunt. Man, just quit with this garbage. Give us good stuff. Also, the cat joke is a Red Letter Media thing. What can I say? I love his humor <,< Okay, bad things are over. I could nitpick at other things, but meh. I'll start on the good things tomorrow. Things about the arc that I like '''Reason Number 1: 'Juha Bach' "G-Grandpa? Holy shit, my Grandpa from the 70's is in Bleach!!!!!" ''-me upon seeing Juha for the first time Okay so, bitch moan, bitch moan, what ''do I like about this arc? Now, unlike the hate part, this part of the list is going to be in a "top ten" fashion, with this part being number one and the highest. Juha Bach is a badass. I think of him every time I listen to my favorite white zombie song. Alright so, the epic fail of a hack aside, there is little about this dude that I despise, honestly. Firstly, I'll go over his appearance. Juha's appearance honestly made my eyes widen upon seeing him. No joke guys, if he got a hair cut and made it just go a little lower than his neck, he would be the spitting image of my grandpa in the 70's. And I was like, "Kubo knows my grandpa?!" Seriously, that aside, I love how Kubo designed Juha. A villain with facial hair, mutton chops especially, is always a win in my book. The messy black hair, the squinted eyes and that confident, evil expression radiates a level of badass that Aizen couldn't hope to reach in my book. Along with the white trenchcoat and standard quincy attire (which is cool for me, as upon most glances, people would want him wearing black instead of white.) and then, that freaking epic black cloak of his. I just adore that thing. Anything you do while wearing that, be it popping people with a nine cal. or just making a freaking sandwhich while wearing that thing makes you an utter beast. Love it, just love it. Now his personality. Of course, as I said above, his personality actually kinda turns me off since it's the same old "bah I'm evil, rabrabrab scheme this, prepare for that, rar!" kinda shit. And I would have normally discounted that part, until chapter 509, where "Juha" starts seeing flash backs of his subordinates. I was so happy that we were actually getting to see some real humanity in a villain, someone who once really cared about his followers, apparently. This could actually give way to better development for him in the future, maybe he disregards some of his subordinates like he does now to keep from getting attached like the last ones? Who knows? Maybe Kubo will surprise me in a good way this time. Oh, and fuck you Kubo for screwing this part up. Alright, what else is there? Got his appearance, personality, is there anything else I can cover? Oh yeah-HE FREAKING WHOOPED KENPACHI BARE HANDED. Seriously, who's ever done that before? Kenpachi has beaten virtually anyone that he fought besides Ichigo (in the beginning, btw), and he's been regarded as the most badass Bleach character of all time. And Juhabach just made him his freaking bitch, worse than Cooler made Goku his bitch in the fifth DBZ movie. We don't even get to see how it happened, and I'm pretty sure it happened pretty quick. Props to you Juha, you just up'd the stakes to an all time high. In the words of that catch phrase from the Watchmen comics: "Who will save us now?" Ichigo, apparently >.> Oh, and Yamamoto I've said before that Ichigo's Bankai fight with Kugo was my favorite Bleach fight? Well, this next fight sure gave it a run for it's money. This was just getting awesome. Obviously, we all knew that Yama was gonna lose cause he just kept dishing his shit out and Juha was managing to avoid all of it. And I like that, personally. Juha was playing it smart and letting Yama-ji use all of his abilities, and he was successfully avoiding almost anything that Yama-ji threw at him. Hell, even when Yama's BS undead army mod came out to attack em', Juha just started tearing them apart with his bare hands. But yeah, some other guy on this wiki, forgot his name, said that whoever keeps dishing out their specials is the one that will lose. Yeah, kinda predictable, but still, this was pretty damn cool! Juha's powers are, at least from what we've seen, a little meh to me. I mean, yeah I love his sword design, predictable as it was (he looks like a damn pirate, there was no way in hell he'd have a katana of all things) in appearance. There was that one defensive ability he used, you know, where God would strike Yama-ji down like a bitch? He didn't of course, must not've had any interest in the affair. And then he can freaking Quincy arrows from just his hands. Hell yes, I love this shit. And then he annihilated Yama-ji with a damn barrage of them, just his fingers too! This dude almost can't be stopped! Of course, his great big ole' "call a sword from the sky" thing didn't make any sense at all at the time, but still....freaking sword from the skies!!! Final Word: '''I gotta give props to the Dark Lord (Kubo, the big troll asshole) for making this guy like he did. Badass appearing, having potential to be a great character in the end, and with strength to boot, he definately makes Aizen look like a bitch....if he didn't pull off a BS hack-DAMMIT!!!!!!! I love you grandpa, keep whooping things like you did in Nam' <3 '''Reason Number 2: The Vandenreich's Style "That....is the most adorable thing i've ever seen in my entire life." ''-My girlfriend upon seeing Bambietta for the first time And I have to admit, as much as I love Rukia, Bambietta is too damn cute it's almost fatal x.x Before I go on, I need to mention how i'm just laughing at the excuses people are putting down for why chapter 513's "epic surprise!" makes sense. It doesn't guys, Kubo is a bad writer. Now that that's out of the way, it's time to move on. As bad as a writer as he is, I'll admit, Kubo is one hell of a guy for visuals, and I consider his creation of the Vandenreich to be one of the most eye-appealing of the series yet. Sure, the Arrancar were pretty cool looking too, some of them were. Other ones had clothing choices that made it seem like they just put their uniforms in blenders and put on what came out of it. And the masks....ugh the masks were just freaky some times. But in any case, while I despise the freak show known as the Stern Ritter, I love most all of the other parts of the Vandenreich. It definately reminds me of the Nazi party. And no, I don't agree with the Nazi's or any of their anti-semetic garbage...but I did like their style. It's hard to explain, lets just say that I like villains. The part where Kirge starts telling the Arrancar that if they wish to live, they are to kiss his boots and profess unshakable loyalty to the Vandenreich's cause. The way that troopers would direct Arrancar prisoners like Jewish prisoners were in WW2. How they actually use tactics and strategy against Soul Society instead of just single handidly planning out everything like Aizen did. I mean, sure the Bankai ensnaring device is a flawed part of the story, despite it's potential, but it's what makes the Vandenreich so feared and somewhat so respectable. If you have the means to rid your opponent of their most powerful asset, then take it, and use it against them. That's war for you. ....I know I just sounded real hypocritical saying that last part, when earlier I just said that I wish that they didn't... .... .... MY BLOG! >:U I dunno it's one of those "I hate it/I love it" ordeals. It's very sound in nature, but....meh :u Then there is the attire. God I love their uniforms. It makes them feel like a true military force rather than just some other freakshow....better than the other freak show mentioned above. The trenchcoats, the hats (GOD, Bambietta's hat is just too damned adorable! >3<) and the cloaks. Sweet cloaks, honestly. The soldiers, the soldyat or whatever, I LOVE their masks. That just instantly made me thing "war! It's war! D:" Seriously, bad guys with masks are badass in my op. '''Final Word: '''I may be in the minority here, but I'm just honestly attracted to the Vandenreich's style. Being German in heritage, I guess it's just me being proud of said heritage. But in all honesty, I feel that the Vandenreich's style makes it a much more...creative enemy for Bleach. Something that we haven't seen, and something our Soul Reapers have little experience with. I know, this part was short and it didn't have many pictures. But the common cold can suck sometimes DX Next section will be much better, I assure you :3 '''Reason Number 3: Good guys are actually dying.' "He....he did it....he actually killed someone! Sweet jebus it's finally happened!!!!" ''-me. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey~ bros. Sorry it's taken me so long, but i've just been so enraptured by all of the....actually I was just being lazy. But since i'm full of love for everybody, I have returned once more with one of my final points ;3 Okay so yeah, good guys are actually dying this time around. Am I the only one who thought he was inspired by the Death Hallows when he thought of this? It being the last Harry Potter flick/book, we could obviously expect alot of good guys to die (I can't remember how many exactly kicked the bucket in that movie, I know that alot of important ones did, at least I think...) so this being the last Bleach arc, obviously we could expect some of our good guys to (finally) keel over. This typically makes me happy. I want tension, I want emotion to flare out, I want to be all "Noo!!!! Not Hachi! Why did you kill Hachi of all people!!!!???" Okay so he didn't die (yet!), BUT STILL, it's a good thing that he's doing it. I mean, honestly, how many goodies have we seen get beaten/butchered/stabbed/obliderated via Cero/thrown around like a ragdoll/bifuricated/dismembered/shot in the back/stabbed in >insert body part here< with a hand that's apparently harder than steel/cut across the chest in a big diagnal cut/razed by Byakuya's Bankai/and all around just whooped effortlessly without ANY of them dying? I know that Soul Reapers and Arrancars and all of that other shit are apparently more durable than we puny sacks of meat humans, but seriously, there's a line between actually surviving with luck, and just borderline bad timing. It's common knowledge, if you don't want a main character to die right then, DON'T make it seem like they're dead. And DON'T have one of your characters say that that person has died unless you're absolutely positive that you want them dead! Seriously, Hachwald or whatever his retarded ass name is, even said "Oh, hm, it seems Byakuya Kuchiki has died." And I was like "Alright, well that dude's a Quincy, and Quincy know their shit when they talk about Spiritual pressures so it's obvious that ''Byakuya is dead." And then there were all of the fans that just jumped out "Oh no! He ain't dead! He's too important! Kubo wouldn't kill him right then! He has to serve a purpose later on!" And, like so many others, I was stupid enough to think that those guys were actually stupid and that Byakuya was really dead. I was just like "Pfft, fangirls/boys, when will they learn?" Yes, I was so dumb, I actually believed that Byakuya was legitimately dead. I mean, his Zanpakuto actually shattered right then and there And then 512 came. And then it was like.... I feel like shit now that I have been disproven by Fangirls/boys. God, next thing he's going to tell us is that Yamamoto is still alive because of his collected dust particles managing to form a sentient being that can actually move shit around and talk. The reason this is lower on the list is because of how Kubo is handling it in certain cases like this. When you say that a good guy had died, freaking kill them. ''I mean, he just ate a facefull of his Bankai (which is likely at a lesser degree than the original, as Yama ji has stated) and got slammed into a wall. Kubo used all kinds of ink on that part, so I expected him to be freaking dead! His Zanpakuto shattered, ''twice! Oh well, maybe at least Yama-ji is gone for good <,,< Final Word: '''Well, that's all I have to say about that. I'm getting ready to watch The Langoilers and see if it's actually as bad as people say it is (It's a mini-series from the 80's based on a Stephen King novel that) Apparently it makes no sense whatsoever and, being a cinemophile, I have to review it myself and see. It has Bronson Pinchot in it, so my expectations are already pretty low. But in any case, you guys got the word, good guys are dying and praise be to jebus woohoo! '''Reason Number 4: I can't remember exactly what this reason was but it was definately a reason and i'll get it to you bros shortly. Things I want to see in this arc So since I can't think of anything else that I like in this cheese grated mess that is laughingly called a plot, I decided that i'm going to now list the top...however many number I can think of...things I want to see in this new arc! Bear with me folks, things are about to get personal -3- Reason(?) Number One: CLARITY, I WANT FREAKING CLARITY WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?!?!?! Reason(?) Number Two: ROMANCE That's right, I said it. Bleach needs a romance, bad. Alright alright, look, disregarding N's blog about the fundamentals of love and all of that good stuff, I don't honestly care how a romance between two characters would work, I just want one. I mean, c'mon, what better drive for Ichigo to save the day and protect everybody is some ass when he gets home? *sigh* Okay okay, let's take it from the top. We all know that in some cases, end of the world stories especially, a romance can really add drama and tension to the hero's journey, and allow for a great big payoff to come around to him/her in the end. Of course, that's just me. I can't right a story without adding a romance. It's a curse, a plague, A CATASTROPHY!!!! D: Seriously, we need some living thing on living thing action if you know what I mean. While of course, I could go for any romance pairing at this point in time, I feel that there is a specific list of possible damsels that we all can probably agree on for Ichigo. 1) Rukia Kuchiki ' ' ''''Yes yes, we're all familiar with this fine, raven haired little cutie. Being the first Bleach character to ever actually be drawn out by the master troll himself, Rukia has earned quite the fan base, being one of the most popular characters constantly throughout the popularity polls, always making it into the top five. Some egg-heads out there are like "Why is she so popular? She's useless!" Well, excuse me bub, I didn't know that actually giving our main hero his powers to begin with and setting up the entire series translated to useless! I mean, seriously, Rukia has been with Ichigo since the freaking beginning. She's helped him out, he has helped her out, they both relied on each other for a while, and even after he lost his powers, she STILL came back and was the one who actually restored his powers! (albeit, it was with the magic sward of truth or whatever concoction that thing was) By the way, the sexual tension between Rukia and Ichigo in the Lost Agent arc was UNBELIEVABLY obvious. Seriously, I think Rukia just lost it when someone asked if she was dating Ichigo XD Case in point, I think these two are perfect for one another in my opinion. They've been around since the beginning, they've both relied on each other, they obviously care about one another, and hell, Rukia is going to NEED someone to have around with her since her freaking brother died. Hell, is Ichigo just gonna be all "Yeah....sorry bout' that...."? Douchebag By the way, wouldn't it be awesome if As Nodt survived, and became a major villain later on to Rukia and Ichigo. And like, Ichigo and Rukia confronted him/her somewhere to face him/her down. And-and then he sees Rukia and he pulls a who framed roger rabbit moment and goes all: "Remember me, Rukia?! When I killed your brother, I talked! JUST. LIKE. THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" -epic fight ensues with Rukia somehow winning- I'd explain more about the fundamentals of this potent romance, but I have not the time. I can explain more about it tomorrow. Until then, enjoy what I have so far! ''TO BE CONTINUED!!!! O.O Category:Blog posts